Mentor Dida from Prishtina, who moved to California-USA, ten years ago, has realized to a number of initiatives for social changes which, according to him, had an impact not only on the American youth, but in Kosovo as well.
Within a “Two dollar challenge” movement, students of several US universities tried living for a week on two dollars per day.
“We built a shelter with paperboards so that students could see how it feels living on only two dollars per day, since half of the world, people in US, too live in that way. This is very difficult”, Dida says.
A roadway for changes in society, came up as an idea to him while he was studying engineering, focused on alternative energy at the University of Arizona.
According to him, everything came as a consequence of his memories of what he went through when he was nine: back then, his family was taken from Serbian forces during the war in Kosovo and taken to the refugee camp in Blace, Macedonia. Memories of those times motivated him to help others today.
“I have reflected about the war time in Kosovo, understood it and thought what could be the difference between the soldier and the volunteer. I decided to work on projects that advance volunteer work and increase people`s readiness to help having more volunteers than soldiers”, Dida says.
After receiving his master degree in social entrepreneurship at the Public University of Arizona, he got employed at “Ashoka Youth Ventures”, based in Washington D.C., the organization with the widest network of social entrepreneurs.
“I’ve learned a lot from ‘Ashoka’ on how a system may be changed, how you advance new ideas and how to make social changes. I am working on changes of the education system, and that gave birth to an idea to mobilize Kosovo youth and see what we can do jointly”, he says.
During his stay in Kosovo, from the end of last year until January 2017, Mentor Dida conducted several activities within the project “#Kaardhëkoha” (Time Has Come) with the idea of bringing change through volunteers, in cooperation with Annea Hapçiu, the founder of “Global Girl Media” girls’ bureau. The initial idea was spread through social networks by means of videos, following his graduation speech at the University of Arizona.
“After publishing a video thanking those who supported my speech, I gave the message for change with the ‘#Kaardhëkoha’hash-tag. Following the interest shown by many youngsters who contacted me, we decided to help each-other towards bringing change to Kosovo, as well”, he said.
In the meantime, Dida initiated a project “Changemaker’s Journey”, held in “Oda” theater in Prishtina, where 14 young participants presented their activities and experiences leading towards their current success.
The organization “Iniciativa për Prosperitet në Kosovë” (Prosperity Initiative in Kosovo), known as PIKS, whose founder is Dida, in coordination with the NGO “Termokiss”, “Lumbardhi” and with its volunteers, provided a space to a number of young Kosovars to show their work and success in 5-6 minutes presentations.
Activities to bring change and empower young people as “changemakers”, were followed by “Poetry night”, the rally “Merr frymë” (Breathe) and “Ndryshimtarët në bashkëkrijim” (Changemakers in co-creation), activities which according to Dida were realized with an “objective of finding an answer to the problems that impede young people in achieving their goals”.
He says he`s planned his return in Kosovo during 2018, and that he will focus on bringing changes in the field of education, meanwhile he has a message for all the young Kosovars who want to become changemakers:
“Come on, let`s create a Kosovo open to work for its own good. If you are reading this and are inspired, come along, let`s volunteer for something bigger”, Dida says.
Doruntina Stojkaj
